Gondwana Research 10 (2006) 398www.elsevier.com/locate/gr

Letter to the Editor

The 21st Himalayan-Karakoram-Tibet workshop:Clarification

Dear Sir,

This has reference to the conference report in GondwanaResearch titled, “The 21st Himalayan-Karakoram-Tibet work-shop” by M. Yoshida, S. Hasegawa and R.K. Dahal(doi:10.1016/j.gr.2006.04.005). We wish to clarify the follow-ing issues regarding the organisation of HKT21:

(i) Support to overseas delegates was funded from sponsor-ship raised by the organisers. From the available funds, 9delegates had registration fees waived and their accom-modation and subsistence paid for. These delegates wereall from Himalayan countries (Nepal, India, Pakistan,China). Had we provided full support, i.e. includingsupport for international flights, the funds would havestretched to only 2–3 delegates. We therefore took thedecision to spread the resource more widely. Alternative-ly, registration fees could have been increased but thiswould have deterred other delegates from attending.

(ii) No delegate, including the organisers, gave more than oneoral presentation. Out of over 100 presentations, less thana dozen delegates who had requested talks were allocatedposters due to shortage of time. These few decisions weremade on the basis of the scientific quality of the abstractand the nature of the material. The figure of 23presentations by 6 organisers given by Yoshida et al. isclearly wrong; the correct figure is 6 oral presentationsand 3 posters; the error probably stems from multiplecounting of multi-author abstracts and/or the inclusion ofpapers that were not presented by an organiser.

(iii) The overwhelming majority of field-based abstracts weregiven oral slots where the author had requested it. HKTworkshops have a long tradition of high-quality field-based science which HKT21 sought to maintain.

1342-937X/$ - see front matter © 2006 International Association for Gondwandoi:10.1016/j.gr.2006.06.004

(iv) It is normal practice at international conferences toprohibit photography during oral presentations. AtHKT21, following excessive photography during Day1, the organizers received several requests that photog-raphy should be moderated because of the distraction itwas causing, both in terms of flash and noise disruption.One delegate asked for a complete prohibition on thegrounds of intellectual property rights. If a delegatewishes to obtain a copy of graphic material used inpresentations it is good international practice to ask thespeaker, following the presentation, whether a digitalcopy of the image could be made available. This avoidsany misunderstanding.

(v) The HKT workshops have an excellent record of fieldtrips when they are held in Himalayan countries, whichgenerally happens on alternate years. Organisation offieldtrips following HKT workshops held outside ofHimalayan countries is rare.

(vi) Following the Cambridge meeting we were gratified bythe feedback we received from many delegates on boththe organisation and the scientific quality of the meeting.

Yours faithfully,

Yani Najman (Lancaster University, U.K.)Nigel Harris (Open University, U.K.)Mike Bickle (University of Cambridge, U.K.)Tom Argles (Open University, U.K.)Talat Ahmad (University of Delhi, India)Randy Parrish (University of Leicester, U.K.)

Nigel HarrisDepartment of Earth Sciences, Open University,

Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UKE-mail address: n.b.w.harris@ open.ac.u k.

Tel.: +44 1908655171.

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